From Vulnerability to Resilience: The Process of Becoming a Mother for Women Victims of Early Childhood Sexual Abuse

For women who experienced sexual abuse during childhood, motherhood represents a period of heightened psychological vulnerability, often reactivating past trauma and influencing the development of the maternal bond. This qualitative study, grounded in an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, explores the experiences of ten women involved in judicial proceedings who had been victims of early sexual abuse. Drawing on their life narratives, the analysis highlights the specific psychological effects of parenthood within trajectories shaped by trauma. Pregnancy, childbirth, and the early stages of motherhood are perceived as critical periods, often marked by fears of trauma recurrence, loss of control, and unconscious projections onto the child. These projections, frequently linked to the child's gender, may evoke symbolic identifications with either the aggressor or the victim, rendering the initial bonding process particularly complex. The mother - child relationship is often strained by a tension between overprotection, mistrust, and uncertainty regarding maternal competence. However, for some participants, this period of crisis also contained transformative potential. For several women, motherhood became a pivotal moment that led to the disclosure of past abuse, the initiation of psychological work, and the beginning of a reconstruction process. The desire to protect their child served as a powerful catalyst for change. These findings highlight the importance of clinical support attuned to the traumatic and identity-related dimensions of motherhood in order to foster mentalization processes and prevent the intergenerational transmission of trauma.